


LIFE IS A BEACH...

by TheBroken



Category: citrus - サブロウタ | citrus - Saburouta
Genre: Affection, Angst, Broken Dreams, Canon Lesbian Couple, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Devotion, Drama, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Erotica, F/F, Fame, Feels, Fluff, Future Extrapolation, Future Fic, Growing Up Together, Hugs, Implied Sexual Content, Kisses, Love, New Beginnings, Paradise, Romance, Sensuality, Soulmates, Tenderness, Voyeurism, canon lesbian characters, success story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29164113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBroken/pseuds/TheBroken
Summary: "She had thought it many times before; and was thinking it again: No-one, but NO-ONE, wore next to nothing as naturally or as gracefully as her Yuzu!.."Set some fifteen years in the future for Mei and Yuzu. Years filled with hopes, dreams, challenges, and struggles...  What lies ahead for the two amongst all these choices, in the journey to come?
Relationships: Aihara Mei/Aihara Yuzu
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14





	LIFE IS A BEACH...

**Author's Note:**

> A look into the future for Yuzu and Mei. It's a whole new world...with some old problems!

Mei sat in the garden, Seiza style, her face a picture of deep inner satisfaction and contentment, a bamboo basket of assorted fresh vegetables, grown with the toil of her own hands, before her. The climate was such here that she could grow most of the things she wanted to thru a large part of the year, so that's exactly what she and Yuzu did. Ton's of earth had been moved to that attractive plot of land for that very purpose. The city was a few short miles drive- or by their preferred means of travel, by bicycle,- (Close enough, but still far away enough!) Often, on a weekend, they both enjoyed going into town to enjoy dining at one of the lovely cafes the exclusive area was noted for, (Even Yuzu liked a break from the kitchen, as much as she loved it!)- pastries, interesting ethnic food, delicacies- that sort of thing, and while there, picking up dry goods like fine rice and legumes, choice cuts of meat and poultry, bottles of fine Tamari and vinegar, more exotic fruits and vegetables Mei didn't grow, and other such items as her wife used in the gourmet cooking that had made her cookbook series a best-seller.

Ironically, Yuzu herself often cautioned people, (Being one of her well-known mottos!) _"The simple life is usually not all that simple, **and** \- it's also rather expensive"..._ _  
_

The two had arisen late that morning, Mei performing her Shin-Shin-Toitsu-Do exercises, (Her love soulfully playing classical guitar in another room... the perfect meditation music!)- right in front of a three-dimensional, life-sized blowup of her wife's first famous fashion magazine cover. Yuzu had done the shoot for it at only nineteen years old, and Mei had brought it up on the hologram platform for... _inspiration._ When the lovely breakfast the two had enjoyed was over, she had helped out, as usual, cleaning up, and that...there were _no servants_ here! the other excusing herself to her office for a virtual conference on her VR Holoplatform, and then, afterward, perhaps, beachcombing, or fishing. 

Mei heard Matsuri greeting her old friend as she passed the room, ( _"Hello, sister, how's paradise today? Ready for the bullshit report?")_ the slim, spare, figure of the still outrageous and sarcastic development manager looking as true to life as if she was actually standing in the room in her _hot_ cutting-edge designer outfit. The image of Harumin loomed behind her, even as a hologram having to wait her turn to get a word in edgewise on her wife!

But this kind of technology was still a bit much for Mei, although she used it for _"meetings",_ who for her part, sat to a rather old-fashioned style console keyboard, and proceeded to create the latest chapter of the most recent book project she was working on (Her first fiction attempt!), which carried her thru on into the afternoon. Her own conference would be tomorrow, and, despite her frequently expressed mistrust of the new methods... how she not-so-secretly _loved_ not having to be present in the flesh! _" This must have been invented by another Aspie!" she mused. S_ he had in a whimsical mood, asked Yuzu about seeing if someone could possibly develop a program where people could appear as whatever image they had selected, which would then be put thru an animation/tracking program. She wanted to be a _tigress_ , for instance... or even have Kumagoro attend the meetings and interact with everyone! The merry blonde had laughed at the typical Mei humor- then gotten a serious look, and said:

_"You're on!"_

_"Oh, dear! What have I sprung on the world?" Mei thought wickedly..._

The chapter was going well. After the duties of "Work" tomorrow, she would apply herself to some editing.

Following a lovely tea break, she turned to her _shakuhachi,_ and haunting, soft music drifted out of the opened, screened windows, sounding almost supernatural on the warm summer afternoon, which filled her with blissful peace.

"Music is medicine!" she thought joyfully. The meditative warmth of the masterfully crafted, root-cut bamboo flute spoke to her soul, perhaps even more so than piano. Putting it back into its case, at last, she was relaxed and soothed to her core, and vibrated gently with the opening of her senses. Yuzu had confessed a similar effect guitar worked on her. 

It was time, she decided, to consider the couple's splendid garden, which been featured a couple of years earlier in a style layout of celebrity gardens, and never failed to delight any visitors. It had become a major joy in her life, over the years. An hour later, she had done the minimal weeding and picked the days' vegetables from their sleepy beds in the rich, warm earth.

Mei's mood lightened further; she began to feel playful, now _fully_ opened to enjoyment. It so happened, sometimes... a playful Mei...

_Was a sensual Mei!_

_And now, came her favorite part of the late_ _afternoon_ _ritual- that had developed into a most pleasurable habit...  
_

_Because she was about to transform herself, From Mei the Author, the Businesswoman, The Educator, The Gardener, The Musician... Truly... Of A Thousand Talents..._

_…_ _into her favorite alter-identity... Mei The Art Lover!_

She reached into a small case around her neck, which, with her lightweight, belted sundress, and garden clogs, was her only accouterment. She saw, in the distance, a figure coming up thru the sand, barefoot, breath-taking, and practically naked, as though she were a goddess in an old myth, stepping straight off a giant half-shell.

But _that_ sumptuous figure was no myth. **" _And,'_ **she thought with great warmth, _'She **definitely** is a goddess!"_

 _"Now... have **you** got a fetish about **me?"**_ _Yuzu had coyly asked once, after confessing her own particular delight._

_Mei had pointedly run her hands down her lover's body, and simply answered **:**_

**_"Yes!"_ **

Looking like a green-eyed Venus, Mei saw the stunning figure of her Yuzu coming up the path from the beach. That was the main reason the aristocratic beauty carried the field glasses, so she could watch her Angel walking up that path of an afternoon. She held them to her face, adjusting the lenses, by long experience, bringing the vision of loveliness quickly into focus with the automatic tracker. ** _There_**... The long sun-kissed mane of hair, styled into the enormous sweep of nearly waist-length golden waves that lightly swung in a gentle breeze that caressed that body as her lover ached in her soul to also do. She had long had a suspicion that she and her love would always be that way toward each other- and why not? The well-turned legs, flowing up into the gorgeous curve of the hips with their gentle rolling motion as she walked, perfect firm breasts with that little bounce, the well-rounded swimmers' shoulders, that sweet, precious face, the toned, athletic _everything._.. Mei wished that somehow, she could have obtained a panoramic view of that figure- of which she never tired! _"Maybe, as technology continues to advance..."_ she laughed out loud at her own lusty silliness.

She had thought it many times before and was thinking it again -

_No-one, but **no-one** , wore next to nothing as naturally, or gracefully, as her Yuzu!_

She was carrying a mesh bag in one hand, probably with shellfish for dinner, and a bag carrying her miniature rebreather, other diving accessories, and collapsible fishing equipment, over one strong, lovely shoulder.

That strange assortment of items, and a bikini bottom, comprised her entire adornment! If she was ever embarrassed in any way by her body anymore, she hadn't shown a sign of it in years- certainly, not after the praise she drew for her first cover shoot, (Of many!) for the debut of _MORE!_ online, which swiftly became _the_ style magazine of all Asia, let alone Japan. That had been the one that made her career, the general praise for her presence effusive. But in the times since the lovely blonde had completely taken to a far more relaxed and laid-back life here near the rural seacoast, they both had adapted quite readily, actually. Clothing was often minimal, for instance- on occasion- _optional!_ After the first few months, it became so natural that they both never regretted leaving Tokyo.

" _Tokyo..."_ Mei cast her memory back a few years. It seemed like a nightmare... _It **was** a nightmare_...

The battle for the chair position of Aihara Academy had been long and bitter, once Mei had left University. Japan's laws of business succession still had stubbornly remained in place, and the antique legal system backed the board of directors and their desire for a male heir. On and on it went, becoming a kind of perverse hobby for Mei.

And Yuzu? Yuzu had found her calling in business, to no-ones' amazement more than her own, which she had an astonishing and hitherto unexplored talent for- or simply the best luck on earth, which is what she told people! The girl who had often seemed so distracted, if not outright lazy during her first year of high school, had found a subject that her mind could navigate like a walk around the block. For, once focused on what she desired, she wouldn't stop until she achieved it, if it were even _remotely_ possible, as many keystones in her life proved. And it didn't hurt that the power of serendipity sought her as a close companion, as if to make up for the low blows she had so often been dealt in her young life before.

She'd taken on random freelance modeling assignments, from the very first few weeks she was at university... Harumi had tipped her to them, she, bored with the school routine, had begun the odd modeling job, herself... _That_ led within months to her first surprising career that came right out of the blue, as a pseudonymous face and figure who became a leading model, which in itself led to a sizable income. Thru her connections in the fashion industry, she progressed to eventually opening _her_ first small design agency... She was barely able to keep school going, but she somehow did, although she had more than a few _moments_. Yuzu sowed all the money she could spare into investments as she branched into any likely, going ground floor technology that presented itself, on the sterling advice of her mentors. The girl was almost like an experiment for their business theories- how far would she go, and how rapid would be her ascension? Be it by coincidence, good advice, shrewdness, or a combination thereof, these investments usually presented enormous monetary gains when the products thereof took flight across the international market. Even with an occasional failure, this still represented another lesson in how to tap into the pulse of the market; of demand, and supply, and so- seldom one to cop an attitude- her knowledge base enlarged. And despite any protests to the contrary, Yuzu herself had only needed to find the right fit for her own abilities and skill-set, before her own focus and drive took over as her formally hidden gifts shone fully.

One day, even before graduation, she sat down with Mei and said:

_"We've got it, Mei! We're not even out of school... And we have our own startup company! I think we're going to be very rich!"_

Raised in wealth, Mei was happy that Yuzu had sought, and found this on her own... this wasn't _old_ _money_ such as her family had- this was thru honest, solid effort, and she glowed with pride for her and applauded the noble effort and ambition.

She continued to gather a team of quality staff, hungry for the profit-sharing system at the fledgling company she was the proud CEO of. All in a bewildering avalanche of one triumph lit off the spark of another, faster than anyone had seen in recent years. She couldn't appear to turn herself to anything that didn't succeed, and it seemed sometimes to her bewildered family and friends that people were just lining up to hand her money. Her focus on getting exactly what she set her mind on, how she'd go about it, and then just doing it, fearlessly, no matter what, her seemingly precognitive ability to second guess the public, and her wholesome, honest, friendly personality, brought various and diverse people to her camp, happy to help her out, and capture some of the stardust. And with that, she had found just who to delegate work to, freeing her up to actually enjoy her victories. Mei was on board for administration duties, for which she was a Godsend! (Although she had begged the violet-eyed goddess to try modeling with her at the start of her rise, and many encouraged her, Mei was repulsed by the idea of such a public life!) But Yuzu _had_ always included her in all the operations of her interests from the start, and it was a wise move; her administration skills were already _legendary,_ as she was really the one who had saved Aihara academy from going under while still a teenager, instituting changes that had made it once again, a top school. 

Yuzu wasn't, in the end, just a person who had been a successful model, or become a designer, or investor, or even _businesswoman,_ although she was all these things, and _so_ many more. But they were just conveyances for her real strength.

_She was just a **success.** In every way, beyond what many would ever have expected from one new to this world!_

When the end of university days had come for everyone else and they were looking for careers, Yuzu was already moving upward, with controlling interest in her own, growing, new company, which was still rare for a young woman in Japan... Or most places, for that matter. It was an excellent start; she had learned from the best, made allies, and mostly, all the right choices- and she ran with it.

She and everyone she knew woke up one day a few years afterward to find she was a _very, very_ _wealthy person_ , aided and abetted by the strong work and support of her powerful wing-woman, Mei, who had always been an equal partner from the start. No-one would have ever used the phrase _"Wealthy beyond her wildest dreams_ ", because Yuzu had always rather innocently dreamed large... No-one had ever told her she couldn't! As it finally shook out, most of her dearest friends joined her eventually, becoming her most trusted chief executives, whose word, faithful to their spiritual sister, was the _law_ at corporate headquarters. Her mottos, such as **:** _ **"** If I don't know, I find someone who does!"_ were simple and time-proven. Everything from clothing to software, to entertainment... If people could wear it, live with it, or enjoy it... Yuzu made it her business to sell it, invest in it, or partner with those who did. It would have been enough to overwhelm most people. Delegation to the proper management was the key. It just meant finding people you could trust to see to it the machine ran smoothly. She was no software expert for instance... nor needed to be, as experts in that field were brought in, loving the freedom to create that her style of business offered! And her once experimental company, _"Purposeful Designs"_ had wangled its way into everything from Tokyo kitchens to being chosen to manufacture the special clothing worn by the team on one of the scientific lunar outposts, a major jewel in the crown.

"What does your wife do?" Mei was asked frequently, because Yuzu seemed to be involved in literally anything at any given time.

Mei would just smile, typically modestly writing her important contribution to the winning formula out, and joke: _"She makes money. I mean, she literally materializes it out of thin air!"_ People half-believed her, after seeing what Yuzu had made of herself...

But all this time, though Mei was a vital part of what her Yuzu did, there was a problem, a very old and personal one. She had continued to harbor that nearly lifelong dream, which she had cherished; she had _always_ seen herself someday in education. It was the subject of most of her articles and her first book. And for her, being in education really, in the end, meant only one thing: the chair of her family's Aihara Academy for girls. So she had continued to work on that, like a rather absorbing hobby. Having come from a wealthy family herself, money, and its usual trappings themselves didn't mean what they might to others. Although grateful, and joyful for all her Yuzu's achievements, she had always lived relatively simply. And, so despite her importance to her wife's organization, she had been struggling all along to go back to academia, which had always been both her definition of self and almost as importantly, _the brilliant Aspie's comfort zone._ And so, all this time, all thru her wife's meteoric rise, she had fought the system, and, most bewildering to her in the rapidly changing age, the sometimes strangely backward and unchanging laws of her nation, to fulfill what she considered her destiny. Japan had even finally allowed same-sex marriage, mostly due to the efforts of people like her and Yuzu! So if that could happen, somehow, surely a way could be found?

Petitions. Arguments. Finally, the courts and legal system.

But that's where the machinery failed.

By the time Yuzu came home to find her wife in tears of bitter defeat one evening a couple of years after that, she herself was, although grateful for the blessing of good fortune, thoroughly sick of most of its nonsense trappings. Meetings, conferences, decisions- _rinse_ , _and_ _repeat;_ she had simply grown weary of the constant quest for corporate ceiling unlimited. _(Her frequent sarcastic joke: " What do you get Aihara Yuzu for her birthday?-_ ** _More!"_** ) The girl to whom they had once appealed had transformed, at her true heart, into the down-to-earth young woman she had become, and really, always, was. The quest for wealth had been with a purpose all along... _complete independence_. Yuzu had developed her wholesome, hard-working personality into the most powerful tool in her arsenal Instinctively knowing _what_ to do, and _when_ , and _how_ , in both business, and her personal life...

And that meant knowing what, and _who_ was truly most important: Family, friends, _and, top priority over anything else..._

_A gorgeous, violet-eyed beauty who meant the world to her!_

She had held her one true love in her strong arms as the disillusioned Mei, with a lifetime of hopes, dreams, and hard work in bitter ruin at her feet sobbed and cursed vilely, calling down ruin on the Aihara Academy board of directors, using the filthiest language Yuzu had ever heard the woman use, and declaring she never wanted to ever hear that school, or anyone or thing connected with it., _ever_ mentioned again in her presence. After that, Yuzu had carried her into their bedroom for a lot of tender loving care. Using her well-learned skills, she whispered, caressed, and loved her wife back into a semblance of calm.

"Mei,' she asked tenderly as her grateful lover rested on her bosom afterward, 'We've tried everything! We've spent millions of yen fighting those bastards... and Japanese law remains stuck on the point. Isn't it time Baby,' she whispered, stroking the dark mane, 'That you let go of that Goddamn Aihara pride and just ended this? It's killing you, and it destroys me to come home and find you hurting like this. It's going to ruin our happiness! Mei, this was the first time we've made love in _two months! That's how badly this has affected us! "_

Mei cuddled closer and managed a choked, _"Oh God! I'm so sorry Angel!"_ and seemed about to cry again before her lover calmed her. She hadn't been this way in years...

Yuzu continued softly, and thoughtfully.

"Honey... Let's look at this whole thing like this: _We've_ been working together for years- _you haven't been working with, or for them!_ You're a success in every way! I know you had an emotional safety net in the idea of that position, and believe me, I know it hurts more than I can ever understand! But this... was _yesterday's_ dream, Honey, and _tomorrow_ is gonna be beautiful if you can let it all go, I _swear on my life! Let it go, Precious!"_

 _"There,_ ' thought Yuzu, _'I've finally unburdened myself!"_

Tears started to come to Mei's eyes again. "And _what,_ Yuzu?" she asked bitterly. "What have I got, after devoting my whole life growing up to _that FUCKING ACADEMY?_ I didn't have a childhood... I wouldn't have had _a young womanhood_ if it hadn't been for _you saving me!_ I devoted myself completely.. It was the changes I put in place that saved the academy from ruin! I gave those _filthy bastards._.. _I invested my life_.. _. My whole life..."_ Totally disgusted with both them and herself, she sputtered out unconnected fragments of sentences, unable to finish the horrible thoughts. She looked up to her lover with the saddest expression, hoping beyond hope there was some help or comfort she might lend. _  
_

Yuzu leaned in and tenderly kissed the tears away from her lover's face. She thought carefully for a moment. Mei had kept this old dream in her mind, despite the new lifestyle, and glowing success as her partner, which would have satisfied anyone else. But the dark-haired aristocrat had wanted something that was all her doing- all her own! She could be so single-minded, it blinded her! And there was nothing wrong with that, under the right circumstances, but... There was _so much that woman_ had to offer... So very much she needed to know she _still_ possessed! At last, she spoke, knowing exactly what _needed_ to be said, and so, the words began flowing out unimpeded.

 _"Your life up to when you left school, Mei!"_

_"And what do you **have**?_ Do y _ou_ really have to ask _me?_ You're thinking of _a single school,_ when you've been helping to change the whole way people look at schools, here and abroad? You've done that through your incredible mind and intellect, your amazing abilities as a writer and teacher-You, Mei! You made that difference, and are pointing the way for others to follow! Look at those richly earned awards you've won, marks of great prestige and admiration, accolades of a grateful world that I framed and put on that wall and dared you to remove because you were too modest to show them! You're the most intelligent woman I've ever known- look at those many, groundbreaking articles you've had published, your books which most people in education called modern classics, even on publication - Your knowledge and prestige you've gained as an advocate for others who are differently-abled, and for legal change in many areas of our society, the amazing skills you've shown as an administrator, most recently, for our businesses- just to name a few- and God knows what _other_ talents and gifts you've had lying dormant as you relentlessly pursued this single-minded old dream! And you did all that while still being my one irreplaceable partner! Your help is so essential, I don't think I could have gotten a fraction of this done without you, and you never even notice how vital you are to me as my most valued associate, let alone the priceless treasure you are as my wife and lover! _I feel sometimes I've been the face, but **you,** Honey, have so often been the mind!_ You have a choice of _so many_ careers ahead of you- you're still not thirty years old yet _,_ Mei! Who knows the rich gifts you have within that are so much more than chairing a school that doesn't want you, despite all you've done for it- and yes, you're one hundred percent right about that- but-"

 _-"You've got_ y _our whole future_ _!"_

And she had gracefully caressed the face of the one she loved. "Look at me! Would you, or _I_ , for that matter, have thought that I had a gift for business and finance lurking inside my silly head? I completely turned my life around... and I've never looked back! Me, the student that was Baka the whole first year of high school! Do you remember when we were talking about living together and sharing expenses when we were just teens, and I suggested I might work in a _nail salon_?" She laughed in amazement at the naïve child she had been, and Mei had smiled tenderly, and whispered " _Oh, yes! How well I remember, Angel!"_ gazing adoringly at her, falling in love all over again with the incredible woman that precious girl had become.

"But, Baby, there's one more thing you've got, and nothing and no-one can ever take this from you,' Yuzu continued, ' You've got a wife who loves you more than anyone else on earth... who happens to be rich enough to take care of both of us forever, even if by some bizarre circumstance, you lost your half of the considerable amount we've made together! Let them put that frigging second cousin of Papa Shou's those small-minded idiots pulled out from _their stupid asses_ in charge of that school, and may he have the joy and the heartaches of it! Hell, Babe, Papa couldn't even hack it, _why_ _the Hell_ _should you?_ Will you just admit you're being pig-headed, my brilliant, incredible woman, love of my life... and just give this nonsense up, and _lets both_ jack in our various distractions, and the crap that comes with them? Frankly, lover- _you're way too damned good_ _for the whole lot of them rolled together_ \- and I realized some time ago that I don't need all of this hassle, and that the only reason I was so wrapped up in expanding was so you and I could literally live in our own little world away from everything else we don't need! I'm sick of devoting so much of my time to making money... I've got more than any roomful of people need! Let someone else do that for me, and lets you and I be free at last!"

_"I love you!"_

Yuzu was finished. Short and sweet-and what she might do rested on Mei's response.

She waited for the Autistic beauty to process everything, her eyes closing, the powerful wheels rolling again at last after months in the doldrums. After a long moment, Mei shuddered and exhaled a long, weighty sigh. It was like she was emptying herself of the crushing burden of the whole of the previous years of wasted effort. 

" _Well_...am I just going to be your _kept woman?"_ She finally said with a pout, opening her eyes up and giving her love a pointed look.

Yuzu smiled. " _Really?_ Aside from you _having half of everything, anyway..._ I'll kill _anyone else_ who tries to keep you!" She stated with mock seriousness, and Mei finally smiled back, and actually laughed- the first her lover had heard out of those pretty lips in nearly a year. It seemed she was ready for the next big step, one that would help in eventually clearing the detritus of her vain struggles free from her mind.

"Sweetie...' Yuzu said, seeming to come to a decision herself, rising to her feet and putting her clothes on, 'Please get dressed and we're gonna try something, something I've long planned... and I'm not going to let wait another day! Okay?"

She bade her relax until she came for her. A short while later, the blonde had returned, and taking Mei by the hand, she had led her to the anteroom, where four suitcases and two travel bags awaited by the broad double doors. And Kumagoro himself sat on top of them, dressed in a sporty travel cap and scarf as if for a vacation!

The violet eyes had looked on her with puzzlement, as a broad, sweet smile stretched across the other's face... and she was transfixed. Surely, magic was taking place and they were both becoming vibrant, happy girls again...

"Do you remember,' she asked, 'when you always used to say to me, _"Let's run away to the ends of the earth where no-one can ever find us! We'll erase our footprints behind us and live happily ever after!"_

Mei smiled at the memory. "Yes...yes, I do, Angel! Back when we were schoolgirls!" A wash of precious memories came back, her eyes were wet with emotion at the replaying of them.

"Well, Honey, what was right then is not wrong for us now! You know in your heart _you always meant that!_ And so, for some while now, I have had an idea in my heart and mind. It has been growing by leaps and bounds as we both have sickened of the entrapments of our lives, that no longer serve us... _if they ever did._ I'll hide my secret no more. Those dreams will now find complete fruition!" Yuzu took her slim shoulders in her hands, her voice serious.

"We're leaving Tokyo, Honey!" Mei had been informed. "We're going to live in our own little world, in a place I've been having a crew build for us off someplace secluded, one of the most beautiful and exclusive coastal areas I could find. As you once taught me, money has its privileges, and we're going to use them. I've had this going for over a year! It's a surprise, you'll see when we arrive. It was going to be a vacation home, all solar, Green as all get out, a _huge_ garden plot- you've talked about wanting to garden for years, now!... every cool addition I could think of... But well, it's time we just tossed out the city life for good, maybe! We can always come back for visits, and so on! You see, I'm tired of it all too! I have achieved more than I ever would have dreamed... And, I'm grateful! But I've reached the end of what I want, or even need out of it. How many meetings, how many acquisitions, how many… _Things_ do I need, or really want, anymore? I don't need that to be me, or to enjoy my life. It doesn't define me as who I am! I'm so happy to have realized this so young... Mei, it frees ones' mind and soul, don't you see? I really don't ever have to walk into one of those frigging offices again- that's a good thing because _I don't want to!_ I just want to lay in bed with you in my arms until noon if we both want that, and have surrogates do the meetings _for me_! We'll discover those hidden talents... we'll write, we'll adventure, we'll travel, we'll...' She leaned in and kissed Mei passionately- 'We'll MMMMMMM!... _Honey, **we'll live!**_ And well - it costs a great deal of money to lead the "simple life"- _If_ you can call a state-of-the-art ecologically friendly home with all mod cons _simple_ \- But we've got it to spare Baby, and careful management ensures we'll never run out. My businesses and investments are in good hands, you'll not need to administrate to any great extent anymore... Much of them are practically self-perpetuating, really, because I have all the right people in place who'll bend over backward for me because we've all done this together, and _my_ success is _their_ success, too! I know when and how, but especially- who to delegate. I'll just need to have regular short virtual conferences, just so they know Mama's still watching over them!"

She had completely, and to the point, figured out the why, and the how. But one more thing alone remained...

 _"Yuzu... you're absolutely brilliant!... but- Can... can we, Angel? Can we really just run away?"_ Mei had wondered, her heart fluttering at the enormity of the lifestyle change... And the excitement of it! She looked at the smiling blonde, her imploring expression saying: _"Please make all this come true!"_

Yuzu had excitedly replied: **" _We_** _can do whatever we want to!_ _It's our_ _own little world because I friggin'_ _bought it_ _for us!_ The bags are packed. The highway awaits, my love! We're going to make a road trip of it, and I am **_SO_** ready to run away! I've already gotten all the things money could give me that I wish to actually keep... _and I don't want the rest of it, anymore!_ So we're starting over, with _your permission,_ as always-Unless you'd like to bring up some more useless lawsuits against..."

 _"TO HELL WITH THEM!_ " Mei growled. "Let's get these bags into that damned self-driving, talkative monstrosity of a Frankenstein car, and _go,_ Angel!"

She had followed Yuzu into the sleek new luxury hybrid touring car, whimsically placing Kumagoro behind the wheel as their comic chauffeur- and the three drove off into a Tokyo sunset, as the road trip of a lifetime commenced. Once Mei had at long last allowed herself to get used to the vehicle talking to them, answering questions, and driving itself, she exercised her astonishing ability to sleep anywhere and just curled up in Yuzu's lap, which gave her wife the same joyful, warm, loving feeling it always had.

It was the peeks into the out-of-the-way places,.. a beautiful natural setting, a small village rich with history, restaurants with a hitherto untasted offering... that made the experience so much more memorable.

It finally ended weeks later, after many delightful side trips, at a rather high-end community some few miles near a very small, very cosmopolitan city on an exclusive strip of coast, where the two would never be bothered. The couple's possessions that they had wished moved there were already in place. They merely had to step in... and, of course, set Kumagoro into his new chair!

Mei was, to her complete amazement, within only a few weeks of acclimatization... at total, blissful, uninterrupted peace for the first time in her life.

 _This was the life she had truly needed to be fully healed_.

As well as attending virtual conferences a few afternoons a week, she wrote, gardened, hiked, boated, swam, took up music as therapy, road-tripped, delighted in Yuzu's... c _ompanionship..._ and a thousand other things her wife and she found they enjoyed doing tremendously, both together, and separately. Old friends and family dropped by frequently, either to enjoy the good life in the flesh or by VR. Mei had quickly come to agree with Yuzu that they were on vacation _forever!_ And, they could be visited and see anyone they so wished. Or even go back to Tokyo or anywhere else on a whim, by automobile, or by the bullet, which they would...

_Or not!_

Mei was delighted when- in the fullness of time-she and Yuzu _both_ had become very successful authors in their various fields, at the former's encouragement. She, already well respected in her field, continued the rule-changing _Challenge Of_ _Otherness_ textbook _,_ with its equally praised sequels _,_ and Yuzu's _Cooking In Paradise_ and romantic fantasy series _Timeless Heart_ becoming bestsellers translated eventually into multiple languages... It didn't hurt they shared a publisher! Harumi, in design, and Matsuri, in project development, who along with their sterling colleagues were faultlessly loyal chief officers in Yuzu's team, kept everything going smoothly along with her many other staffers, back at main headquarters in Tokyo, as well as dropping in when they were sick of city life. The couple's old friend Suzuran's shipping connections were indefatigable in securing Asian trade prominence, making her, and her own organization, a valuable associate beyond the prowess of the woman's brilliant mind, and keen, seemingly psychic judgment of a persons' feelings and personal character.

_No-one was brought up into an important position in the firm, without first having tea with Shiraho-San!_

Yuzu had won almost everyone over with her honest, transparent, and generous spirit. No hostile takeovers, or under-the-table deals- Just straightforward good business practices, excellent opportunities for advancement, and forthright profit-sharing! People had come to joke, even in earlier years before, that she had either the devil's luck or had managed to sign him on for a deal, too! Or that surely, it was _"A matter of luck!"_ Whereas there was a certain amount of truth in that last one - Yuzu always had astonishing luck and the finest advisors, which helped her navigate the path relatively swiftly, as well as a gladsome confluence of happy events- Only she knew the years of work that really went into being an _"overnight success"_

 _It_ _had been an experience, to say the least, a journey of many hectic years to get to this place in their lives. But how swiftly they had passed, it seemed now._

Mei came back to the present several years away from her memories, a look of elation on her face. _Stress,_ which had been the enemy of her delicately balanced nervous system, was little known to her now; the high-strung Aspie had never felt so relaxed, so... _normal,_ for want of a better word, and had really long before needed to leave the hectic life-pattern she had allowed herself to be hijacked by. Breakdowns and emotional trauma were a thing of the past. She was, at last, at peace with herself, the world, and everyone in it. She was... complete!

_Leaving it **all** behind... had been the **sane** thing, the **right** thing to do!_

And the major reason for the joyful life she claimed, the sound health and her completion as a well-integrated person, was right before her anxious eyes. The beautiful blonde lady was coming up the path, now, her sleek limbs casting one lovely spell on her lover!

Observing her progress up the path, Mei recalled, when they were in their second year of university. They both had a final growth spurt, growing in height, as girls that age often do. But, since then, her Yuzu became taller than she, which was the _sole_ physical thing about her that slightly irked Mei, who actually had enjoyed her height advantage over the other for all that time before then... It was, however something she could easily live with, as she viewed the splendor of that figure and the grace of her athletic stride! The dark-haired beauty noted the loving smile Yuzu wore coming upon her with approval, as the not-so-secret voyeur put the field-glasses down.

 _ **"All** these years later,_' she mused, _' and she still knocks me out! She still **totally** turns me on!"_

She rose to her feet to accept the customary embrace and lingering kiss, tasting faintly of the salt air, as her lover showed her the net bag. "I'm sick of giving the striped- bass hell, babe!" she laughed,' I dug up some longnecks- Dinner!" She motioned to Mei's produce. "What have you got in the basket, today?"

Mei smiled, showing her the greens and tender vegetables. Their diet and lifestyle kept them energized, healthy, and beautiful. In their mid-thirties now, _( Still young, to be sure!_ _)_ they definitely, in very important ways, both looked _better_ than the students they had been years before. In fact, time was only refining their beauty to eventually, mature it to perfection in the years to come! Yuzu set her things down and bent over the basket, her sun-kissed mane spilling into it, the famous heavy side sweep, falling in golden waves, that she had brought back into fashion, and decided to keep. Her enthusiastic lover couldn't stop her hands from caressing the temptation before her, resplendent and nearly bare in the tiny covering. _"God! I still cannot keep my hands off that woman!"_ she thought with no embarrassment whatsoever, having long since fully embraced her physical and emotional nature- and _all_ the feelings and desires that came with that.

 _Totally nonplussed at having her bum patted, and long used to her lover's almost comically blatant caresses,_ Yuzu turned her head, chuckled softly, and asked:

" _Will we...um... be having that dinner late, dear?_ "

"Is that a rhetorical question?" The dark-haired lady sighed comically.

For an answer, Yuzu laughed and suddenly swept her wife up in her strong, swimmers' arms, Mei laughing and playfully kicking her long, freely-swinging willowy legs, behaving in a way the sixteen-year-old _girl_ the blonde had fallen in love with would have never allowed herself to those many years before, or perhaps, even been _able_ to...

But the youthful-hearted _woman_ she was now, did- _and loved it!_

 _"Look at us- look at Yuzu, still as exuberant as a schoolgirl-- **and look at me!"** _she thought, _"I feel **SO** damned alive! That girl I was could have never known she would grow up and be the happiest, most together, luckiest lady on the face of his earth!- With the most amazing lover anyone could ever desire to have!"_

_But then again, if one had asked her, Yuzu would have stated she felt the same way!_

All these years later, as two women in their thirties heading slowly into the glowing and green prime of life that awaited them both _years_ in the future, the pair were still gushy, romantic, and playful with one another, still so much like those two sweet girls they had stayed in spirit, in all the best ways that could be! And somehow, they both were sure- it would always be this way for them, this love they had fought for!

 _They still had the same passionate effect on each other, too, as Yuzu lovingly carried her magnificent, violet-eyed garden sprite into the house, the door shutting softly_ _behind them._

 _And... there was no-one but the beautiful garden to be privy to those luscious, opulent, ecstatic sounds of love and passion coming out of the bedroom window scant minutes later, The kisses, the sighs, the moans of_ _pure rapture,... those sweet, soulful, whispered words of endearment, each one a magic spell that only ones' own true love knows.._. _No, only it alone heard._

_But you see... the garden could keep a secret!  
_

**Author's Note:**

> This is my thirty-sixth story here on Archive of our own for Citrus and Citrus+, most primarily involving Mei and Yuzu. I realized, just now, that one out of eight Citrus fandom works here on archive are by me.
> 
> Mine are entirely Citrus and Citrus plus extrapolations, and now, I have taken the girls into a possible future! I hope you are continuing to enjoy them, as much as I have writing them, my dear readers! 
> 
> You have helped to keep me going, and I am forever grateful.
> 
> I love you!


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